The Band of Osric
by Raider16
Summary: Someone from Helena's past appears during a mission with news that an artifact believed to be lost forever has resurfaced and this time the fate of mankind and a loved one relies on them successfully recovering said artifact and securing it within the warehouse.
1. Chapter 1

The Band of Osric

Author: Kellen

Pairings: Myka Bering/ HG Wells (Eventually) HG Wells/OC. **Femslash.**

Rating: T to a mild M depends on chapters.

Summary: Someone from Helena's past appears during a mission with news that an artifact believed to be lost forever has resurfaced and this time the fate of mankind and a loved one relies on them successfully recovering said artifact and securing it within the warehouse.

Notes: Slightly AU. Takes some time in season 4; pre Artie completely cracking and killing Leena and post Steve being released from the Metronome. And obviously HG wasn't sent off to hide with the Astrolabe.

Authors Note: I have no one to proof read for me so I do the best I can by myself. Therefore any errors I take full responsibility for. And if there is a grammatical or spelling error or anything that you just cannot live with please just let me know and I will gladly correct it. As always reviews are more than welcome especially since this is my first attempt that this pairing and fandom and my first time writing anything in over 5 years.

_Italics _indicate thoughts

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Secret Service Agent Peter Lattimer maneuvered through the empty alley with an almost cat like grace, his steps as light as possible so not to make a sound that would spook his current target. The sound of water dripping from the roof of a large brown stone next to him sounded like the rhythmic pounding of a drum, it was the only sound that screamed through the ally. His feet carefully scuffled along the pavement as he moved stealthily, his tesula at the ready and barely lit prepared to be used at a moments noticed. As he reached the center of the ally he looked up to see the tesula lit figure of his partner, Myka Bering, coming into view. Her movements just at stealthy and cat like as his, her senses heightened and mind on alert for even the slightest of moves. Even in the darkness her eyes met Pete's questioning ones, unspoken words were exchanged and answered by her mere shake of the head.

Slowly Pete raised his hand to his left ear and spoke in barely a whisper, "HG, you see anything?" His eyes scanned the darkness behind his partner; he always had Myka's back just as he knew she always had his. In his preferable vision he could she Myka doing the exactly same thing for him, he gaze sweeping across the dark alley behind him.

The earwig cracked before a cool yet annoyed English voice answered, "If I'd seen anything I would have spoken up, Peter and since I have not then that must mean that I have yet to see any sign of our lighting fast friend."

Agent Lattimer rolled his eyes and shot Myka an exasperated look, his facial expression spoke volumes to his partner. _Why can't she just say no like a normal person, _the look on his face said. The female agent merely shook her head and sent Pete a very cool yet sarcastic glare that said; _HG Wells is not normal._

The duo stealthily stepped under the dimly light street lamp at the T of the alley ways, they took one last careful sweep of the darkness behind each other's backs before slowly turning, their Teslas slowly dropping, towards the mouth of the alley that HG was slowly walking down. Just as the English woman was stepping up to her fellow teammates the loud sound of a trash can being knocked over with a crash behind HG caused all three agents to whip around, Teslas raised towards the obnoxious noise. Pete fired once causing the alley to light up in a bright white and giving his fellow agents a chance to see where their suspect had gone. HG and Myka caught a quick flash of yellow to their right, their teslas flew in the same direction ready to fire a second shot.

"I'm out for the moment. Anybody see him?" Pete asked quickly his eyes darting frantically around the dark alley.

"Even if it wasn't dark out we still wouldn't be able to see him, Pete cause y'know he's lighting fast!" Myka shot back as she quickly spun around to search the alley behind her.

Next to them Helena stopped, her tesla slowly lowing and the hair on the back of her neck rising. They weren't alone in this alley. Her eyes stopped searching for the lighting fast suspect and began searching the darkness for the new presence. She could feel that it wasn't a threatening one, if anything is was a very familiar presence. Taking a deep breath she closed out all background noise and focused only on listening for the other person in this alley. In the back of her mind she was aware that their lighting fast suspect had made another pass at them effectively making Myka fall on to her back, losing her Tesla in the process, and causing Pete to yell in anger and blindly fire his tesla towards the man. Helena felt their suspect suddenly wiz past her and into the darkness but she didn't attempt to stop him instead her eyes focused on the darkness in almost a tonic state.

A sudden thud and strangled gasp sounded from the darkness. Silence engulfed them once again. One moment passed. Pete slowly stepped up next to HG his tesla at the ready and aimed right into the heart of the dark alley. A second moment passed. With a last glace back at his partner, who'd slowly pulled herself up from the ground and retrieved her weapon, Pete stepped to the edge of the light his head cocked to the left in almost an attempt to see into the darkness. Just as he opened his mouth to speak their suspect appeared from the darkness and fell to his feet with a loud almost lifeless thud. The suddenly icy feeling of fear and dread snaked its way through Pete's body as he glanced down at their lighting fast suspect who was now rendered what Pete hoped was unconscious and not dead. In the back of his mind he sensed Myka slowly stepping up to stand between him and HG with her Tesla raised in defense. Helena hadn't moved an inch but merely drop her head to glare almost angrily into the darkness.

"Really Helena I would have thought that after being bronzed for over a century your senses would be far better than this," came a humorous husky voice from the darkness. Helena's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in surprise, frantically her eyes swept the darkness for the source of the voice she hadn't heard in 120 some years. Slowly in almost a menacing style a tall and slightly rugged woman dressed in a soft leather motorcycle jacket and faded blue jeans stepped into the light just in front of Pete, a sincere smile graced her hardened lips as she locked eyes with the older English woman. "And you don't look a day over 30, love." The woman laughed before sending HG a dashing smile causing the woman to snap out of her shocked daze and slowly walk towards the taller woman. Helena's eyes slowly travelling up the individual's body until they locked on the woman's dashing greens, a delighted smile broke out on her face before she threw her arms around the figure in a tight hug.

"You bloody loon," Helena whispered, only loud enough for them, into the woman's ear as she held her tight. The taller individual smiled happily and returned the embrace, pulling Helena close to her and placing a loving kiss to the side Helena's head.

Myka watched in trained attention to the new comer's behavior as well as Helena's as she stepped up next to her partner, Pete shot Myka his signature 'I got a bad vibe' look before focusing his attention on the duo in front of him. Something didn't seem right to Myka and she wasn't about to just dismiss it. She gripped her tesla tighter and focused her sights down the barrel of her weapon, every fiber of be being ready to fire a lethal shot if needed, if there was one wrong move this woman was fried…literally. "Helena, wh-" She began slowly but was quickly cut off by the other woman.

"It's alright, Myka she's harmless." Helena stated breathlessly as she stepped back from the dark figure. Slowly Helena's gaze never leaving the new comer's bright green eyes, her left hand carefully raising to touch the woman's cheek. "Are you-" Helena began with a breathless whisper only loud enough for the other woman to hear.

With a soft smile and tender laugh the taller woman raised her hand to grasp Helena's tightly and whispered back just as quietly, "Yes my sweet I'm really here." Helena dropped her gaze, embarrassment flushing her cheeks and a light chuckle leaving her lips. Of course the woman had to really be there she'd just had her arms around her.

Behind them the two secret service agents watched completely bewildered and still totally on edge about the new comer. "Uh HG you wanna fill in the blanks here?" Pete stated from behind his raised tesla. He threw Myka a worried glance who returned it with a mere nod of her head. It was clearly spoken between them: once false move and this woman was tesla toast.

Next to him Myka stood carefully analyzing this new woman. She stood slightly taller than Pete but only maybe an inch or two taller than her, however she almost towered over Helena. Her jet black hair slicked up into a messy mohawk, her emerald green eyes were almost glowing in the low light. The woman was clearly very masculine and she oozed an air of power and charm. Her stance was protective yet relaxed as she stood next to Helena. Myka could clearly tell why Helena would be friends with a woman like her.

"I think that it would be best, Hel to explain to your friends who I am. I know it's been a long time since I was teslaed but I do recall that it's not pleasant even for my kind." The dark woman responded with a light laugh as she eyed the two secret service agents.

Helena took a deep breath, dropped her gaze from the bright eyes of her old friend, and released the hand she was holding. Taking a small step back she placed her tesla in the waist band of her jeans and turned to face her colleagues. "Peter. Myka. I would like to introduce you to Luthan Osric, one of the original vampires."

"Most people call me Luca however," The woman stated as she stepped closer to the two agents he hand held out in a gesture to shake the agents' hands.

Pete stood shock still, his eyes wide, his mouth handing open, and his brain stuck on processing the word 'vampire'. "Comea say vamp whatta? D-did you just say vampire? You're kidding right? HG the joker right?" He shuddered out as he tightened his grip on his tesla and aimed it directed at Luca. Could things get any weirder?

Luca grinned at Peter almost devilishly, it was very tempting to mess with this young man; to possibly dart with inhuman speed behind him or possibly just flash her glowing eyes and razor sharp fangs with a growl. She wondered for a moment if he'd squeal like a girl or just hide behind the Myka woman. "I'm afraid she's far from joking, dear boy. But no worries I'm harmless. Scouts honor." Luca said as she held up her hand in the traditional Scouts promise.

"Hold on. I need to process this. Vampires don't exist." Pete reasoned his head shaking in disbelief as he waved his tesla at Luca.

"Really Peter? You work in a place of endless wonder, a place where miracles happen, where the impossible becomes possible and you can't accept that vampires and werewolves exist? Surely the Warehouse has shown you that the world is not as it would seem and that the unbelievable becomes believable." Helena stated while throwing Peter sarcastic glare and crossing her arms over her chest.

Peter's face turned white and his mouth opened and closed a few times. "W-Werewolves exist too?!" He screeched out. "Wow, I'm gonna have to have an Underworld marathon when we get home." He said with sudden excitement.

Luca groaned in annoyance, "Those movies have it all wrong." Helena barely contained her laugh, how she missed listening to Luca rant about how most people and writers had the history of vampirism completely wrong. With a genuinely amused smile on her face she'd listen for hours over a few pints at the local pub as Luca ranted about how mortals had everything about vampires wrong and would give Helena personal history lessons about her kind. Yes, Luca would admit that vampires were soulless blood drinking demons inhabiting human bodies but a vampire's purpose was not always to kill sometimes they were no different than mortals... until it came to the drinking of the blood of the living.

"How do we know you're really a vampire?" Myka questioned evenly, an air of disbelief apparent in her voice.

Helena glanced back at Luca with an apologetic smiled, her fellow agents could be quite intelligent at times but other times they were quite daft so she shouldn't be surprised that this is one of those times. How much more evidence would they need, Luca had effectively rendered their lighting fast suspect unconscious and completely forgotten about at their feet which was something neither one of them could do without some sort of an artifact. She heard Luca sigh heavily and roll her eyes which caused Helena to laugh in her head, why would a vampire sigh like that they don't breathe it was purely for dramatic effect. With a slightly disgruntled sigh of her own and not taking her eyes off Pete and Myka, Helena lifted her right leg up and smoothly pulled her boot knife from its sheathe at her calf. She held the knife out to her vampire counterpart as Luca rolled the left sleeve of her leather jacket up to exposed the cool milky skin of her left forearm.

Gently Luca took the knife from Helena causing the two agents to quickly tense up and step towards her with teslas once again at the ready. "Relax and just watch," Luca said in annoyance and with her green eyes glowing inhumanly. Pete and Myka's gaze dropped to the knife that Luca brought down to press against her porcelain skin. Carefully she slid the razor sharp blade across her forearm causing the deep crimson blood to spill from her arm and drip on to the pavement. Myka held back grimace as she watched the bright red blood stain paper white skin and drip heavily onto the wet ground. Pete merely looked horrified and like he was holding back his dinner with a gag. The vampire pulled the knife back from her arm and handed it back to Helena, her eyes not once leaving the two secret service agents. "If I was human and did this my wound would not…well just watch." Luca stated in amusement a flirtatious smile gracing her lips. The agents watched stunned as the wide and long wound healed until it was nothing more than a small scabbed over red scratch. Their eyes quickly flashed up to Luca's then over to Helena's, who had an amused smile on her lips that matched Luca's.

Pete suddenly snapped his fingers and shook his head to clear the memory of blood from his eyes, "What did you mean by original vampire?" His tesla fell to his side and he looked between the two women in complete confusion.

"The original vampire bloodline," Myka said hoarsely as she stepped towards Helena and Luca. She quickly sized the vampire up her tesla never moving from its target on the center of Luca's chest. Now she really didn't trust this new stranger. She knew enough about vampires, myth or not, to know that they were very dangerous. Inhumanely strong and fast, extremely high tuned senses they, the ability to charm anyone to their death, and of course the insatiable desire for human blood. "The folklore always went that in the 5th century there was a noble family in an unknown kingdom who's odd behavior come nightfall spurred the fear of the night especially when bodies began popping up through the kingdom. Many in the kingdom referred to them as night-walkers or hellions due to their preference in being active only at night and well being quite mischievous.

For a few centuries the family bloodline lived in peace and ultimate power over the kingdom until, as the story goes, it was discovered that one of the sons was the child of another vampire. A vampire that was once human and sired by the noble's wife before she bared his child. A rift in the family was created by the two brothers; this then created two different bloodlines. War ensued and many, human and vampire, died. The folklore to it can be quite in depth depending on what you read about it, the stories are never the same. Actually there's too many stories to know which is truth. Frankly I don't think anyone actually knows the story." Myka explained eerily.

Luca grinned darkly, "A book worm I see. I'm flattered you seem to know a lot about my clan."

Myka watched Luca carefully. "I only know some of the folklore there's still so much to learn about it. And considering that until this moment I believed it was nothing more than folklore I never really invested time in researching vampires," Her words dripped of sarcasm and intrigue at the same time. She slowly began to lower her tesla but did not lower her guard when it came to the dark stranger.

The vampire laughed softly, her face changed and she graced Myka with a soft smile. "I won't hold it against you. However as much fun as it is to talk about my history there are much more pressing matters at hand." She said as she turned to face Helena with determination.

"The ring is back," Helena stated evenly.

"Of course darling and this time it mustn't end up anywhere but the Warehouse. Miguel is much closre to it this time than he was before." Luca stated gravely.

Helena looked away from Luca and towards her fellow agents with a devilish grin. "Rightly-ho then."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A painful groan from the agents' lighting fast suspect knocked the Warehouse personnel out of their confusion and back to the job at hand. Myka quickly glanced down at the young man who wore a yellow jumpsuit; clearly his choice of a super hero costume. The female agent shot Pete a glance that instructed him to grab the artifact before the guy completely woke up and took off again. Quickly Pete holstered his tesla and crouched down next to the kid and unbuckled the black belt that wrapped around the kid's waist. He stripped it from the belt loops and quickly shoved it into the static bag the Myka held open for him. Everyone spun away from the bag as it and the belt erupted in a loud crack and flash of sparks effectively ending their current mission.

"Now that, that's taken care of on to our new mission." Luca stated as she stepped over the moaning body and closer to the two secret service agents. She smiled warmly at Myka and Pete as silent offer of peace. "I know an amazing dinner not far from here and their pie is divine, my treat." She tossed over her shoulder as she walked past the two agents. Myka and Pete quickly looked towards Helena who smiled sheepishly at them before stepping over the wannabe superhero and up to her fellow agents. "You bunch coming or not," Luca asked as she stopped a few feet away and turned back to the agents.

"As much as I can't turn down an offer for free pie, I'm not too sure I want it to be from a blood sucking vampire." Pete stated nervously as he glanced back at Luca, he turned to Myka and whispered harshly, "Mykes I have such a bad vibe that I'm not even hungry and you know that's only happened once. How do we know we're not gonna become some blood pie for her?"

Luca growled behind them and shot Helena an aggravated glare who gave her a sympathetic but sheepish smile. "You do know I can hear you. And Peter be a good mate and stop with the 'blood sucking' references its making me hungry." She asked in exasperation her fading Irish accent coming out more from her annoyance. Pete's head shot up and he looked at Luca in absolute horror, the blood drained from his face and he stepped closer to Myka. The vampire merely grinned evilly and flashed him a fang filled smile causing Pete to squeak and casually move to hide behind the two women he was accompanying.

Helena glared at Luca pointedly causing the vampire to roll her eyes before she looked away and allowed her fangs to recede. The English woman turned back to her colleagues, "I assure you that Luca is harmless. I know I haven't given you much reason to trust me as of late but I ask you that this one time you do." She smiled reassuringly at Myka and reached out to place a comforting hand on the taller woman's arm as she walked past her and towards Luca.

Myka shook her head quickly in bewilderment. If HG and this vampire actually believed that she and Pete were just going to accept working with an evil undead demon that they knew absolutely nothing about then they were greatly mistaken. "Hold up," she stated her voice dripping of exhaustion. She was running on little sleep after spending the past seventy-two hours chasing down a teenager with a belt that allowed him to run faster than bullet. Her brain was beyond fried and her body was ready to collapse at any moment, all she longed for at this moment was a nice hot bubble bath followed by a good book or a tantalizing conversation about books with Helena. "How do we know we can trust this...vampire? For god sakes, Helena you're still working on us trusting you after everything you've done!" She stated hotly as she turned to the English woman with an inquisitive glare. HG looked away in shame and wrapped her arms around her torso, of course it was a long shot that after all her betrayal that the team would trust her especially when it came to a notorious vampire.

"Yeah," Pete exclaimed as she stepped up between the vampire and his fellow warehouse agents in a sudden display of bravery. "How do we know she's not like gonna 'uck our blood like Dracula?" He asked mimicking the worst Dracula accent he could manage as he exposed his scrawny neck. Helena and Myka glared at him causing him to squeak in mild fear; behind him Luca grunted in annoyance but licked her lips hungrily just to add to Pete's clear discomfort. "What? I thought vampires were soulless blood sucking fiends."

Luca growled in irritation once again and crossed her arms over her chest in clear distaste for Pete's bluntness. How she missed the age were vampires were not see as terrifying creatures probably because no one knew they truly existed. Helena shot her a sympathetic smile before turning to Pete and Myka. "I can assure you, darling that Luca is harmless. A vampire with a soul tends to dislike unnecessary killing." A mischievous smile graced Helena's lips as she watch the realization dawn on the agents' faces.

Pete quickly glanced back at Luca before turning to Helena skeptically. "Ok so she has a soul now but how long ago was it that she was evil and committing the sucking of the innocent blood?" He asked frantically as he eyed Luca suspiciously, much the same way Myka was watching her only without the immature frantic behavior.

"Approximately 200 years, give or take a few 50 years." Luca stated thoughtfully.

Myka caught the English woman's gaze and held it for a few moments before she took an intimidating step towards Luca. The ever diligent agent in her sizing the vampire up and locating the appropriate opening to take the nightwalker down if needed. "And exactly how old are you?" Myka asked darkly.

Helena grinned knowingly and glanced over at her fellow agents who stood dumbfounded and suspicious before glancing over to Luca and sharing a devilish grin with the vampire. "This will, uh, how would Claudia put it, yes 'blow your mind'." Helena stated in amusement her signature smirk dawning her lips.

Luca cleared her throat as if preparing for a grand speech, Helena merely rolled her eyes sometimes Luca had the tendency to be way too into herself. "I am 1,313 human years old but I don't look a day over 25 if you ask me." Her voice laced with pride.

Pete's jaw dropped open and he quickly looked over to his very cool and collected partner, Myka, in astonishment before looking at HG like she had three heads. Minute by minute this situation was getting really out there on the unbelievable but believable with the warehouse scale. He noted that all Myka could do was glare at the vampire with pure distaste decorating her face while the vampire merely grinned back at her, the two clearly caught in a staring contest of unspoken aggression. Ever being the one to break any tension with a few wisecrack remarks Pete made a 'hmm' noise before stating, "That's like mega old, dude." When he noted that no one was paying attention he stepped closer to the women and raised his voice. "That's like as old as dirt, man." His eyes flicked from each woman gauging their reaction to his words.

"I resent that, Peter I am not as old as dirt." Luca stated darkly her eyes never moving from Myka's as they continued their intense staring contest. It was so very tempting to Luca to have a little fun with this agent, to compel her to do something ridiculous, she was sure that the funky chicken dance would be funny. Clearly the agent didn't research enough into the vampire lore or she would know that you never look a vampire in the eye, it was like looking into the eyes of a wild dog and asking for a fight or well in this case to be made to do things against your will.

Next to the two Helena immediately recognized the look in Luca's eyes, she'd been both a willing participant and a victim to it many times in the past. Thinking quickly HG stepped between the two effectively ending the standoff and locking eyes with Luca; unspoken words that Pete and Myka, especially, were off limits to the vampire were exchanged. Luca narrowed her eyes at Helena she was the most head strong woman she'd ever had the pleasure of knowing. The vampire dropped her gaze from Helena's with a slow nod, an unspoken agreement that the agents were off limits to her and that the usually dominant vampire was submitting to the inventor this time. The English woman took a deep breath, her eyes widening in shock as she stared at Luca almost unable to process what just happened. In all the years, and it was many, that she's known Luthan Osric she's never known the vampire to look away first and thus submit to anyone especially a human. Luca was from the original bloodline she was one of the most powerful vampires to live everyone submitted to her and she submitted to no one. Yet here stood that very vampire with her head dropped low for Helena. Clearly much had changed for Luca, she knew that in the past the vampire had respected her and saw her almost as an equal but she never dropped her eyes from Helena's when they were having a power stare it was always Helena that looked away.

Helena straightened and spun around to face Myka, her face schooled back to her normal English expression. "We have much to explain and I am sure you both have many questions." She said quickly her mind still attempting to wrap its way around Luca's behavior. With one last reassuring smile at Myka she turned and stepped up to Luca, gesturing to the vampire to lead the way. The two got a few feet away from the secret service agents before they realized they weren't being followed.

The inventor stopped and turned back with chipper English laced words, "well come along now no dawdling."

Pete and Myka exchanged a quick glance before silently accepting that without hearing what Helena and this Luca had to say they'd have no idea what their newest mission would be. Myka nodded at Pete and the two followed after their elders. Behind Luca's back Myka studied the vampire with a cold hard expression. She'd be lying if she said the vampire didn't give her a vibe of her own, something just seemed off with her there was the possibility that it had to do with how close Helena and the vampire seemed to be. Her vibe feeling spiked when she watched Luca wrap her arm around Helena's shoulders in what appeared to be a little more than a comforting hug as the duo walked ahead of them whispering words that neither Pete nor Myka could hear. Myka knew it was in the best interest of the her team and the mission to be very cautious about this vampire, she for one was not going to trust her so easily regardless that she knew Helena and that the English woman was vouching for her. She would trust Helena now just as much as she trusted Pete, Claudia, Artie, and Steve; she saw Helena as an equal within the warehouse but she wouldn't trust any friend from Helena's past especially when that friend was a blood sucking vampire.

"Ok so how exactly do you two know each other?" Pete asked as the group settled in to a booth at the old dinner Luca had mentioned. Across from him sat HG and Luca while Myka chose to take a spot right across from Luca and to the right of Pete. The vibes that Pete were getting from the entire situation was giving him shivers, he was sure at this point that they were more awkward vibe than warning of impending doom.

Luca smiled at him softly, "In due time Agent Lattimer."

A young blonde waitress dressed in a light blue dress with a pale yellow apron ventured over to the booth, pen and pad at the ready. As she walked up to the table she caught Luca's vamprically gentle eyes and smiled brightly. "Luca! I take it you'll have your usual?" The waitress practically shouted in the most annoyingly bright tone that should not be allowed from people who work at 2 a.m. The vampire merely nodded in appreciation before the waitress turned to the agents at the table. "What can I get y'all?" Her peppy voice caused Myka to wince and glare even harder at Luca; only an absolutely evil vampire with a soul would frequent a place with a woman as happy and hyper as this waitress. The agents ordered their preferred wake up drinks. Helena going with a good strong tea, Myka ordering the strongest cup of coffee the dinner made, and Pete of course ordered two slices of blueberry pie and a cup of coffee.

"So," Pete began after they'd received their order and around a mouthful of pie, "what exactly is your usual?" Curiosity lacing his words as he watched the vampire, his initial terror passing.

"Nothing fancy," Luca stated nonchalantly, "a cup of fresh blood drained from the live body of a 2 year old with a shot of espresso and a spoonful of sugar." She hid her smug smirk behind her mug as she raised it to her lips. Helena jabbed her elbow in to Luca's ribs harshly causing the nightwalker to growl and flash her fangs at the English woman. Helena's stomach jumped in pleasurable excitement for a split second, she shot the vampire skeptical glare with a raise eyebrow just tempting the undead creature to growl at her again. She didn't realize until now just how much she'd missed the vampire's deep growl, piercing eyes, and that damn charming smirk. Across from them Pete sat in horror once again, eyes wide and almost hollow with a forkful of pie raised halfway to his lips. Next to him Myka sat with a cold expression, her face the picture of stone and her eyes glaring like daggers at the vampire.

"Ok, Ok it's blood with espresso and sugar but it's not fresh blood from a two year old. That was a joke strategically designed to make Peter squirm." Luca said in defeat shooting Helena a sad smile for ruining her fun. "It's blood bank blood. This is a dinner not a den," Luca muttered angrily under her breath while giving Helena a disgruntled glare.

Myka chose that moment to sigh heavily in annoyance causing everyone to turn their attention on her. "At what point will you be explaining what we need to know about this ring and our newest mission, not to mention how exactly you know Helena." Myka insisted as she leaned across the small table and closer to Luca in a menacing nature, dislike flaring within her green eyes like a wildfire.

"And where exactly you like us to begin, sweetheart?" Luca asked her light Irish accent emphasizing the 'sweetheart' as she picked up her mug of blood, taking a brisk sip, and leaning back in the booth her eyes never leaving Myka's as she brought her right arm up to rest on the back of the booth behind Helena's shoulders.

The female agent's lip turned up in disgust, no one called Myka by any endearments but Helena and some part of her was just not comfortable with the vampire getting all chummy with her female partner. Deep down something within Myka just didn't like how the English woman and the vampire interacted but there were more pressing matters to worry about then her feelings or lack there for a particular female warehouse agent. However she did have to say this undead blood sucker had charm and knew how to use it but it wasn't gonna work on Myka only one person had the ability to charm her and this woman wasn't her.

"Why don't you start with the ring, who's is it and why do we need to snag and bag it?" Myka asked simply as she leaned back in her seat almost mirroring the way Luca sat.

Luca grinned darkly and glanced over at Helena before looking back at the two agents in amusement. The vampire's eyes dilated and an almost evil smile spread across Luca's lips.

"Well the ring technically belongs to me."


	3. Chapter 3

See author's note in Chapter One. I am sorry ahead of time for an errors in this, if you can't live with them then please let me know and I will correct them. I was up all night to get this out to you guys so I hope you all like it, I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter but I've had a lot going on. On another note...am I the only one upset that HG and Myka did not hook up on the latest episode?! So not cool that HG chose some beefstick over Myka...they better fix this before the end of the show or my heart will be broken forever. Anyway on to you story...

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Myka raised an eyebrow skeptically; she leaned forward resting her body on her elbows on the table. Her eyes bore deeply into Luca's a grin stony expression on her face, her words low and icy as she spoke to the vampire. "What do you mean 'technically yours'."

The vampire grinned smugly, "Well you see it technically belongs to me because it originally belonged to my great, great, great, great grandfather…give or take a few greats." Her face contorted in confusion for a moment before snapping back to the topic at hand. "Either way I am the rightful heir to the ring however my brother, Miguel, wants it for himself."

"And I'm gonna ask the obvious question cause that's how I roll," Pete stated as he pushed aside his first plate of pie. "What exactly does this ring do and where did it come from?"

Luca smiled at him gently before taking a sip of her blood coffee. "In order to explain that I have to start at the beginning," She stated informatively.

"What exactly is the beginning," Myka practically demanded. Her eyes flicked to Helena's for moment but the English woman was too busy smiling into her tea for some reason.

A low chuckled escaped Luca's lips before she could stop it, she leaned closer to Myka matching the woman's dark look, the movement causing her to pull Helena just a little closer to her. The female agent growled in her throat and clenched her teeth in annoyance. Luca merely grinned before glancing over at a smiling Helena; she knew this was one of the inventor's favorite stories to hear. "The beginning of vampirism, Agent Bering." Excitement laced the Vampire's voice and a twinkle appeared in her eyes.

Myka's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "I never told you my last name or Pete's."

"I know," Luca stated a mysterious glint in her eyes. "Sweetheart, I'm a vampire my abilities go far beyond what you could begin to think is possible."

Pete looked between the vampire and his best friend quickly he could feel the tension rising which was not good at all, when Myka got pissed things tended to get verbally violent. Quickly he shot HG a look that screamed to get the vampire to back off. Helena nodded at the male secret service agent before reaching out and tightly squeezing Luca's thigh under the table then using her other hand to give Myka's arm a calming squeeze. The agent tore her eyes away from Luca's to look towards Helena her eyes softening and a light gentle smile gracing her lips. She nodded once at Helena in a silent surrender before looking down at her coffee. On the outside she looked cool and collected but on the inside she was boiling. Helena watched Myka for a second longer than needed before looking over at Luca, her grip tightening on the vampire's thigh in warning. The vampire held her stare before dropping her gaze in silent submission.

Meanwhile Pete just looked plain old confused as he looked between the three women sitting at the table with him. In the back of his head he made a mental note to talk Artie about sending him on missions with Jinks for a while, after this mission he had a feeling he'd have his fill of women for a while. Clearing his throat Pete brought attention back to the mission at hand, "So how does the beginning of vampires go exactly?"

Luca took a deep breath and gave the two agents a rueful smile. "This is going to be a bit of a long and somewhat complex story; all that matters in the end is that you know I want the ring within the walls of the Warehouse."

"Just start the story, vampire." Myka practically spits as she flopped back in the booth. The other Warehouse employees looked at Myka in mild shock. She'd always been the calm and collected one on missions never the agitated ball of fury she is now. Helena watch the woman for a moment, silently attempting to analyze her behavior- figure out why exactly the usually sweet and level headed agent was acting this angry.

The vampire glanced at the female agent once last time a soft growl escaping her throat as she took a sip of her coffee. Gently she set her mug down and glanced at Helena one last time, a soft loving smile ghosted over her lips just fast enough for the inventor to catch it and smile back. "Right so," Luca began almost too excitedly, "According to family history the first vampire, one of my grandfathers, was created by the Ring of Osric which was in turn made by Lucifer himself. Apparently Lucifer wanted to add his own twist to the new world God had made and he figured that if he hijacked some of God's creations for his own it'd be even more of a blow to the Almighty.

"So the ring was placed on the finger of one God's created people, when exactly it happened none of us know but it was shortly after God's creation of Adam and Eve. The ring brought the demon, Azcabeth, up from hell to possess the body of a human and cause the human's soul to go to some limbo. Azcabeth fed off the life force of humans, that life force being blood, he was ruthless and soulless the epitome of what you all know as Vampire. God was beyond pissed however he knew that without evil there could be no good, there could be no threat to keep his people in line, so the vampires were left to roam the earth with humans. Acabeth chose a human to be his bride sometime later; she was sired by him and bore the first vampire child. That is how the original bloodline began and vampires came to evolve; eventually, some centuries later, a strict code came about. We're really not what you think we are."

Luca reached out and grabbed her mug again, tipping the warm ceramic back and downing the rest of her coffee and blood. She looked over to their waitress and raised her mug telling the young girl she'd like another.

Pete crossed her arms and rested on his elbows as he moved closer in interest. "So where do you come in?"

The vampire smiled ruefully before beginning her explanation again. "Much of our history has been lost or refused to be explained over the centuries because of the code. The documented history that we have only dates back to roughly the 1st century. Even then vampires were not so different from you humans, we co-exist with you but we keep a low profile. I can't begin to tell you the amount of high profile 'people', like your Senators and Congressmen, that are actually vampires and you humans don't even know it." Luca stated with delight causing the warehouse agents, minus Helena, to look surprised.

"That's not possible! Vampires can't go out in daylight how can they be Senators or Congressmen?" Pete objected hotly much like a belligerent five year old.

Myka laughed sarcastically, "I can see it. Politicians are soulless blood suckers, guess it's fitting."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult, Agent Bering." Luca said with a wide sarcastic grin. "And you don't actually believe that sunlight crap do you?" She shot Pete a questioning look and the agent merely shook his head slowly. "Right, of course you do. Well its hogwash- nothing more than a myth- just like garlic. Vampires are demons in human bodies that's it, humans don't crumble to ash in sunlight so why would we considering we're in the same type of skin as you humans."

"You were explaining your history," Myka said coldly just as their waitress returned with Luca's coffee and to top of the agent's coffee.

Luca sighed heavily and glanced at Helena, eventually they were going to come to the part about her and the English woman and to be honest she didn't really want to divulge to the agents the little bit of happiness and peace she had. "The bloodline progressed much the way any family or bloodline grows. Vampire is born, vampire grows to the age of twenty-one, vampire goes through the coming of age ritual, vampire takes bride, vampire may sire bride if need be, vampire has child, child grows, and the vampire parents choose a time of rest thus passing the control of the bloodline on to their offspring. However our generations live much longer than humans do. We vampires are very strict in our codes, our way of living, and in our tradition. Without it we would truly be those nasty, vicious, and soulless creatures your film makers market us as."

The female agent looked at the vampire suspiciously as she raised her mug to her lips, her gaze flicked to Helena for a brief moment before going back to the blood sucker before her. "You're already soulless and therefore evil tradition doesn't change that. You feed off the living and you kill."

"Luca isn't soulless, Myka she was given a soul remember." Helena stated softly causing the female agent to look over at her. Myka noted an almost haunted and painful flash behind the English woman's piercing brown eyes.

"No, the bloodline does not kill. We never kill when we feed doing so brings attention." Luca quickly argued back. "The only vampires that kill are Rippers and Rouges. Any vampire with a brain knows that killing brings bad attention to us. We have discipline even outside of the bloodline; any vampire brought up under the discipline knows the rules and the consequences of breaking them. We are very strict."

Pete looked over at his partner in confusion, none of this was following the vampire stories he knew. "Rippers and Rogues? What is that a vampire biker gang?" He asked with a laugh while sharing a humorous look with Myka.

Luca growled lightly from behind her mug of blood coffee causing Helena to squeeze her thigh compassionately. "A Ripper is a vampire that cannot control their desire for blood, they can never get enough, and to drain a person to death is a high- an addiction." She explained darkly to the agents, her eyes locking with Pete's in an almost silent exchange of understanding. Myka noted as the vampire's eyes glazed over and a look of longing entered her dark eyes, she knew that look- it was the same look Pete got in his eye when he spoke about his drinking. "A Rogue is a vampire that rebels against the tradition and order of the vampire way. They live to be evil and soulless, they live to kill, and believe that their way is the true vampire way."

Pete quickly dropped his gaze from the vampire, momentarily receding into his own demons and memories of his addiction. Clearing his throat he snapped back to the present and looked at the vampire across from him. "Back to the history, people. How do you come into play?"

"I was born of the bloodline in the 7th century. I took over the bloodline in about the 9th century after my eldest brother, Letholdus, was killed by a vampire from our opposing bloodline. Because my brother was more worried about the opposing bloodline and the war that still continues today between the bloodlines he hadn't the chance to take a bride and have a child to take over the bloodline upon their 21st birthday. So it was left to the second strongest child which was me much to my youngest brother, Miguel's, dismay. It wasn't until I was given a soul that I discovered that Miguel always resented me for being in control of the bloodline when it was all that he ever wanted and nothing that I wanted." Luca explained sadly, a painful and almost heartbreaking smile graced her cold vampire lips for less than a second.

"So why didn't he just kill you or you just give him the bloodline?" Pete asked in confusion.

The vampire laughed lightly and looked down as she swirled her coffee in her cup, she clicked her tongue once before looking up at Pete. "I wish I could have done that, Peter but our traditions are far too strict. To have just given my brother the bloodline I would have been admitting to cowardice which is punishable by death and although I didn't want to lead the bloodline I still craved the power." The vampire stated her voice trailing off to a low whisper and her eyes dropping in shame.

Pete looked thoroughly confused at this point, "how does all this tradition work exactly? How do you come into power in the vampire world?"

Luca ran a hand through her dark hair and sighed heavily. Explaining a different way of life was a lot harder than anyone would think. Luckily Helena spoke up and saved Luca's already thin nerves. "In the vampire world the beginning of life is much the same as us humans. They conceive children the same way humans do but with a twist, in the vampire world a homosexual pair is seen no different than a heterosexual pair, and somehow women can impregnate women. Even in their world women are the ones that bear children, and are seen as superior in the essence of life. But in a case of a male homosexual couple they use surrogates or the head vampire takes two partners. I have to say they are far more advanced in the acceptance of people than we mortals are." The English woman explained as slowly as she could to help the agents understand.

"No I am NOT explaining how the woman impregnating women works, Peter and neither is Helena." Luca stated evenly causing the agent to clamp his mouth closed like a three year old who just gotten had caught saying a bad word. I look of shock and confusion on his face- how in the hell did Luca know that's what he was thinking?

Helena stifled a laugh at the look of horror on Peter's face. Even over hundred years later Luca still had the ability to completely surprise her. "Well then back to topic. Vampires have children and in the first twenty one years of life they grow at the same rate humans do. When they hit the age of twenty one they go through a coming of age where their demon is awakened and they become immortal, at that point their aging slows down to the point where it seems as if they do not age. For every human century that passes only one vampire year passes, however they begin counting at the age of twenty one. Therefore a century later a vampire only turns twenty-two not one hundred and twenty-one."

"Our culture and way of life is much more complex then you could ever think. We do age and certain events in our lives cause us to age faster. Immortality may seem a pleasure to you but when you've lived so long and watched those you love lose their way or die like I have you beg for an end that you know never comes." Luca said painfully her gaze unabashedly locked on the beautiful English woman next to her. "Once we've come of age and our demon is awoken we must then take a partner. Whether they are human or vampire it doesn't matter, if they're human then they will be sired. Upon marriage our aging speeds up- we get older quicker. When we have children it gets even faster, not as fast as you humans age but faster none the less."

A vampire comes into power in their family line once they're reached the coming of age. Their parents can then retire- for a lack of a better term. After a few years which is centuries for you humans the old leaders choose a time and place for their Resting Ceremony. In this ceremony they are literally laid to rest, they are not dead-dead merely catatonic and after years without blood they mummify. It takes many centuries for a vampire to starve to death. As a matter of fact I believe my parents officially died about 10 years ago if that tells you anything." The vampire said nonchalantly as she sipped on her cooling coffee-blood.

Myka studied the vampire carefully, "can they be woken up?"

"Yes but to do so requires exigent circumstances and a lot of human blood." Luca explained. "It has never been done before."

"What if there is more than one child? Does the oldest take the lead?" Pete asked carefully. In his head he was trying to piece all that he was learning together, none of the vampire movies he'd ever seen came close to showing what Luca was explaining- The Underworld movies were way off.

Luca sighed heavily and threw the last of her second cup of coffee back before motioning to the young waitress for another. "When there is more than one child then a competition of strength is held once the youngest child turns twenty-one but only if the oldest child is no more than five years older. Meaning if one child is six when their sibling is born than the oldest takes the head of the bloodline without a competition, but if the sibling was only five years older than a competition must be held. The victor takes control of the blood line and their siblings take second and third in command."

Pete and Myka shared a look, both slowly processing how the vampire world works. Myka with her studious mind quickly put everything together, basically vampires operated on a medieval like tradition only minus using the terms 'king' and 'queen'. "Where does this second bloodline come in? You've explained how the vampire world works; now explain to us where this other bloodline comes in?" Myka asked stiffly, her patience was running thin with the unneeded information about vampires.

The vampire bit back a growl that caused Helena to squeeze her leg gently; she glanced over at her old friend with a soft smile. Across from them Myka's lip curled in disgust and annoyance. She was completely annoyed that this dashingly good looking and charming vampire just pops back into Helena's life after god knows how long and has her friend practically melting. Beside her Pete noticed her hand tightly curling around a spoon until her knuckles turned white, gently he grabbed her hand and removed the spoon while shooting her a knowing look and silently telling her to calm down.

Luca turned back to the agents and began her explanation, "Back in about the 1st century A.D there was a leader of the bloodline his name was Althalos, he took a human servant, Jacquelyn, as a bride like many vampire choose to do but she was in love with another servant named Merek Gray. It's not uncommon for us to see someone who appeals to us as a potential partner and we just take them, but in the vampire world if someone of high respect chooses you then you faithfully commit to them. Jacquelyn committed to Althalos until she had her first child, Tybalt, after his birth she and Merek began an affair behind Althalos and the entire bloodlines' back. It was from that affair that she borne a second child, Cassius.

"All was fine within the bloodline until Cassius hit twenty-one and the competition was initiated." The vampire stopped for a moment to accept the coffee that their waitress had brought the table. "Because Cassius did not have decent blood from the bloodline he was weaker than Tybalt. It was during a sword duel that he lost his sword and rather than continue fighting like those of the bloodline do he dropped to his knees and begged his brother to spare him. It was the ultimate act of cowardice and it enraged the head of the bloodline, he stated before the entire kingdom that no child of his was a coward. This upset his wife and she proclaimed to him that Cassius was not his son but rather Merek's. Althalos was beyond angry, he ordered that all three be put to death however Cassius managed to escape the kingdom. He supposedly took refuge in another kingdom and took a partner and began his own bloodline and army. Not too long after war broke out between the two bloodlines, the original –my-bloodline was the victor and his was left to lick their wounds. But he swore he would avenge his mother's death and take what he believed was his rightful place in charge of the bloodline. "

"This 'opposing bloodline' they're the ones that want the ring as well, right?" Myka asked blankly her cold hard glare not leaving the vampire once. "What does the ring do for them?"

The vampire sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair, exhaustion slowly creeping in as her vampire senses picked up that dawn was quickly approaching. "It gives them strength or so we've been told." Luca stated tiredly, her hands moving to lace her fingers in front of her and her chin resting atop of them. "According to legend when the ring is placed on the finger of a vampire it makes them invincible but when placed on the finger of a human it makes them a vampire for about twenty-four to seventy-two hours then they spontaneously combust."

Pete gulped hard and glanced over at his partner, "guess you could say that bling is on fire."

Luca laughed as she nodded in agreement, "you'd be right on that one, Agent Lattimer."

"So the ring levels the playing field between the two bloodlines. What happens if the ring is destroyed?" Myka asked intriguingly as ghosted smile appearing on her lips for a moment before disappearing.

The ancient vampire locked eyes with the clearly jealous Secret Service agent, a grin slowly appearing on her lips until her fangs briefly flashed in the harsh fluorescent light of the dinner. It was a silent threat and warning that the vampire knew what the other woman was thinking. "If the ring is destroyed then all vampires are destroyed." Myka's grin got bigger for a split second before disappearing. That was exactly what she wanted to hear not because she wanted this particular vampire gone but because she wanted every vampire gone. It didn't matter how Helena and Luca painted vampires to be the opposite of what the legends say-vampires were evil and soulless therefore they needed to be destroyed. Fighting an almost joyous smile Myka picked up her now cold coffee and finished it off. "But," Luca started causing Myka to glare up at the vampire. "To destroy all vampires causes an unbalance between good and evil. Remember Agent Bering without us there can be no good."

"There will always be evil in the world but good will always persevere. Don't flatter yourself by thinking you vampires are the definition of evil." Myka spat at the vampire. Out of the corner of her sight she saw Helena flinch before staring at her in disbelief. Part of the agent's mind screamed at her to stop, to hold her tongue and say no more or she would hurt Helena more than she already had. But another part of her, a stronger part, didn't care and wanted to make it absolutely clear to Luca that she didn't like her one bit.

Luca growled deeply in her throat as she locked her burning red vampire eyes on Myka, her lips curling up in a vicious snarl causing her needle sharp fangs to flash for the agent. Beside her Helena tensed and grabbed her thigh harder in attempt to get her vampire friend to back off. There was only one other time that Helena had ever seen this type of look on Luca's face and that was when- no she wasn't going to think about that right now. When it was clear that she couldn't get the vampires attention off of Myka she leaned close to Luca. "Relax, love save it for the ring. We're all on the same team." The whisper was barely loud enough for Luca's vampire hearing to pick up.

"You would be right on the first part, Agent Bering but we vampires were the beginning of evil you'd be wise to not forget that and who you are talking to." Luca stated darkly. Slowly she slid her gaze from Myka briefly closing her eyes and when she opened them the natural crystal green orbs moved over to send Helena a reassuring look. The older English woman sighed softly and looked up in to the soft green eyes of her oldest confidant, instantly she felt herself relax and an almost warm soothing feeling entered her chest- it was a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time.

Pete cleared his throat loudly causing the two across from him to break their gaze and return to the subject on hand. "So that's the history of the ring. What's the history of you two?" He asked carefully but still earned a harsh glare from Myka.

"I'll explain this story," Helena said with a smile causing Luca to let out a laugh and roll her eyes. "It was 1886 Wolcott and I were sent to investigate an artifact that made people believe they were vampires before they spontaneously combusted; later we learned it was the Ring of Osric. While tracking the ring down we encountered Luca and Miguel." Helena's tone dropped darker as she remembered the first encounter she had with the vampire.

"My father had ordered me to recover the ring shortly after my brother had come to lead the bloodline, I was searching with Miguel when word reached us of our brothers death only a few short human years later. I then took control of the bloodline as I searched for the ring, I wanted it to avenge my family and my brother's death. I was soulless at the time and a Ripper. I had this nasty tendency to become obsessed with any woman that didn't cower away from me. From the second I'd crossed paths with Helena I was captivated like a cat with a mouse. I cannot sugar coat it I was beyond ruthless and evil, I terrorized and tortured my victims. It was the darkest time in my past." Luca explained in shame her head bowed to stare into her coffee cup.

Helena gently squeezed the vampire's thigh and shared a pained look with the woman. "We'd managed to discover where the ring would be in London and we went to retrieve it, however it was the same time that the Osric Bloodline and the Gray Bloodline chose to recover the ring. There was a rather large fight that ensued, Wolly and I barely managed to escape and the ring was lost- neither bloodline retrieved it and it disappeared. It was from that night forward that Luthan had an obsession with me." The English woman stated slowly as she attempted to remember the duo's history.

Luca grinned devilishly at the woman sitting next to her. "I couldn't help it. Helena put up an incredible fight that night and it just pulled me in. I figured at the time that since I'd lost the ring I might as well have some fun to expel my anger at my failure. You must remember I was evil, as evil as a vampire can be. I am not proud of my past that I can assure you." The vampire said sincerely as she leaned closure to the agents in a silent plea for belief.

"Luca threatened my family and everyone I knew from the Warehouse, I was lucky that Christina had not been born yet. I did not believe in killing at the time and as far as I was concerned Luca was a human with a demon trapped inside her therefore I could not kill her. After she left the body of my brother Charles' current conquest on my door step I knew that I had to do something to stop her." Helena explained as she shot Luca a glare that said she was still more than a little upset about that. Luca merely smiled sheepishly and chose to look out the dinner window to avoid the English woman's eyes. "I chose to do the one thing that would be an ultimate torture for a vampire. I chose to restore her soul. I began searching for the Orb of Tesluna which could call a person's soul back from the after world."

"What you must remember is although we are born with a soul there is a demon that lays dormant within us; once we come of age the soul goes to the after world, our human body dies and the demon awakens. To be given our soul back does not kill the demon but rather gives the demon a soul." Luca clarified carefully.

Pete looked rather confused, "So what does having your soul back do exactly?"

The vampire sighed heavily, her face contorting painfully at the memories that assaulted her. "It causes you to feel again, causes the ghosts of your victims to haunt you, and you feel their pain which is excruciating. All at once you feel the guilt, the depression, the anxiety, and the sadness of taking a life. You begin to see your victims and they taunt you until you've gone mad."

"After I'd done the ritual and restored Luca's soul the stalking and the tormenting stopped, she disappeared or so I thought." Helena trained off with a pleasant grin. "It was the summer of 1891, approximately one month after Christina was born and Jack the Ripper was terrifying the women of Whitechapel."

Luca growled deeply and rolled her eyes. "That human was a real pain in the ass. He'd beg every vampire he crossed to turn him, he was nothing more than a want to be who wasn't worthy of even being a meal."

"So he decided to be a serial killer instead?" Myka asked her interest now perked and her distaste for the vampire barely subsiding.

"Oh no his killing of women was his way of telling us that he was worthy of being one of us, that he could be as evil and ruthless as we were. What he didn't know was that unless you were a ripper or a rouge vampire the needless killing of humans was disrespectful and caused a rage in the vampire world versus respect. No vampire would touch him; he was nothing more than a joke to us." Luca explained in a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.

"Back to the story then," Helena interjected. "I chose to walk home with Christina alone one night; I admit it was not the best idea at the time and I should have asked Wolly to accompany me but I felt that I could defend myself and Christina if need be. I was quite wrong. The Ripper attacked me and I attempted to fight him off but he over powered me, I laid there begging him to spare me because I had my daughter but he did not care. I'd closed my eyes and imagined my little girl's smile one last time as I waited for the end to come." The older woman chocked back her tears and squeezed the vampire's leg tighter as the horrid memories came back to her.

"Suddenly his weight was gone and I heard a muffled scream, when I opened my eyes and sat up I saw the man who attacked me being attacked himself and I knew in that instant it was a vampire. I got up and quickly ran to Christina's carriage, I pulled out the stake that I always kept under her blanket and readied myself to kill them. When I turned back the vampire was draining the man who'd attacked, I couldn't help but watch until the vampire dropped the body and looked up at me. The moment our eyes met I knew it was Luthan and fear coursed through my body, I rushed forward with the intent to stake her but…" She stopped a soft smile gracing her lips as she thought back to the moment she met the vampire she knows today. "She begged me to kill her and it shocked me, I'd never had a vampire ask me to kill them. That's when I knew that the ritual had worked and that I couldn't kill her but rather I had to help her."

Luca chose that moment to take over the story, sensing that Helena was having a hard time not choking up. "Helena took me in that night; I was beyond weak I hadn't feed on anything other than rats in close to five years I was slowly starving to death. She gave me a place to live in her cellar and she made sure I was fed; mostly a diet of pigs and cows blood but I needed human blood to get my strength up. Animal blood can hold back the hunger and keep us going but it requires about fifteen pints of animal blood to equal just a pint of human blood." Luca stopped her explanation to smile over at Helena brightly before turning back to the agents. "You could probably credit Helena as the first person to come up with the idea of withdrawing blood and storing it for later use. Though as we know she never made her discovery known, foolish woman." The vampire said as she shot Helena a disappointed yet joking smile.

Helena gave Luca a short glare before turning her own attention back to her fellow agents. "I began withdrawing my own blood every few days to feed Luca, shortly after she'd regained her strength she explained the precautions I had to take if she was to be around humans. I began feeding Vervain to Christina in her milk and slipping it into Charles' tea." At Peter's confused look she rolled her eyes and began to explain what Vervain was. "Vervain is an herb that it potent to Vampires, when ingested it turns the blood to poison and it naturally repeals vampires, a vampire will not bite a person who ingests or wears any type of Vervain."

"So it's like garlic," Pete supplied eagerly.

"Garlic is a myth it does nothing to affect a vampire." Luca stated blankly as she reached out and grabbed Helena's now cold tea and took a quick sip causing the English woman to glare at her.

Helena shook her head and returned to the story at hand. "Slowly I nursed Luca back to health however after a few weeks we quickly learned that there was only so much blood a person could give before they became too weak. Luca had been with me for approximately a month when Wolcott discovered her; at first he was enraged but once I'd explained what I did he reluctantly agreed not to tell the Regents. He eventually came to like her so much that he began donating to feed her and joined me as a second care taker for her. After a few months Luca regained enough strength to venture out at night but because of her soul she couldn't willingly feed off of a human. The only reason she had when she saved me was because the hunger was too great to fight. We would go to blood dens, Luca would enthrall a few girls, and I would take a pint of their blood."

"I didn't trust myself to try and feed from even a criminal. We never hurt a human that I can assure you, Helena would never allow me and if there's one thing I will never do its break Helena's trust." Luca said sincerely as she glanced over to the woman she spoke of with a gently smile.

"Before I knew it Luca had become a part of my family though she was never allowed near Christina and that was of her own choice to which I completely respected. However my daughter at a year and a half old decided she had other ideas about that and ventured down to the basement where Luca was. My brother and I searched for her everywhere it wasn't until I noticed the cellar door open that I knew she'd ended up down stairs. Terror rushed through me and I ran down the stairs only to find my daughter and Luca sitting across from each other with my daughter telling Luca about her favorite bedtime story. Luca told me after I'd taken Christina back to her room that while my daughter was sitting with her she had controlled her need for blood and had no desire to drink from her. We knew at that moment that Luca had redeemed herself and made amends, that she finally had embraced her soul. The voices stopped, the ghosts went away, and the desire to feed became manageable." The English woman told her story with the ghost of a pleasant smile upon her lips.

Luca spoke up to give more explanation, "children's blood is the purest blood a vampire can drink. The desire to drink from a child is like a highly addictive drug. Once a vampire tastes a child's blood they can never get enough. Since I'd drank children's blood many times in my past as a ripper I was essentially addicted to it so to have Christina in front of me and no desire to drink from her told me that I was safe to attempt to carry on as normal of a life as a vampire can."

Helena brought her hand up from Luca's thigh to take one of the vampires hand in her own. "It was from that moment that Luca and Christina became my family. Secretly, without the Regents knowing, Luca helped Wolly and I with many Warehouse curiosities and saved our lives on many occasions. When the Regents did discover her I fought and pleaded for her life and the Regents unhappily allowed her to stay under the provision that she was my sole responsibility and one mishap would mean she'd be put to death. She was there for me after Christina's death and up to the moment I chose to be bronzed." The English woman's face darkened and she held on to Luca's hand tighter, the vampire squeezed back reassuringly.

Across from them Myka sneered internally at their behavior. She watched with a cold glare as the two shared a more than friendly smile and a low growl escaped her throat as Luca brought Helena's hand to her lips for a gentle kiss. The agent gripped her coffee mug tighter in an attempt to maintain a poker face in front of her partner and Helena. This vampire just did not give Myka the best feeling; there wasn't one thing about this woman that Myka trusted. "And that's it? That's how you two met?" She asked flatly as she shot Luca a cold hard glare.

"That's how we met. Helena and her daughter became my new family. I left behind my vampire ways and dedicated my time to helping the Warehouse." Luca said just as coldly as Myka's glare at her was. The two locked their hard eyes on each other in a silent battle of control before Luca rolled her eyes at the agent and glanced over at Helena.

Pete nervously watched the exchange between his partner and the vampire then watched the exchange between HG and the vampire. A lot of times he wasn't as smart as Myka or HG but he wasn't stupid enough to not notice the jealousy radiating off his partner in waves especially as she watched the loving exchanges between Luca and HG. He wasn't blind either he knew from the moment Myka met HG that she was in love with the older inventor but was too scared to ever say something. He only hoped that now she finally had an incentive to admit her feelings because if not then this case and his life after was gonna be a nightmare- he just didn't handle heartbroken women.

He pushed aside his cold coffee and loudly clapped his hands to break the tension. "Ok I don't know about anybody else but I am beat." Pete exclaimed and he shot his partner a tired but goofy smile, silently telling her that it was time to go.

Myka nodded and grabbed the jacket she'd discarded next to her in the booth. "Pete's right we all need sleep especially after tonight."

"And I'm sure you'd like to check in with your people at the Warehouse," Luca said indifferently as she slid out of the booth to stand before the agents. Myka slowly got up from her spot so she was standing almost toe to toe with Luca quickly she did a once over of the vampire before taking a step back and shrugging her jacket on. "I assume you lot will be staying at the hotel across the street," Luca continued her attention on Helena as the woman slowly slid out of the booth to stand before the vampire. "I'll meet you in the lobby in the morning then we'll be off to the last known location of the ring."

Pete and Myka merely nodded in agreement before turning without a word and starting towards the dinner exit. Helena stayed back for an extra moment her attention on Luca as the vampire looked down at her with gentle green eyes. Luca smiled softly as she reached up to cup the English woman's cheek, her thumb brushing slowly over her chin as Helena leaned in to the touch. "It's so good to see you again, Hel." She whispered lovingly her eyes softening and turning to a golden yellow color.

Helena's heart fluttered at the look in Luca's eyes and she reached up to take the hand that was holding her cheek and bringing it to her lips. "I've missed you dearly, Luca." She responded as she gripped the vampire's hand and looked up in to the eyes she'd long to see since she'd been debronzed. Luca smiled happily and pulled her into a tight hug, Helena gladly returned the hug gripping the vampire to her and burying her face in Luca's chest to breathe in her musky individual scent. The two hugged until a loud and distinctly Pete cough sounded causing Helena to pull back and see Myka glaring daggers at Luca's back and Pete trying to look anywhere but at them. The English woman reluctantly pulled away and started towards the two agents, a smile stretching across her lips.

Luca followed behind them stopping just outside the dinner door and watching the agents walk across the street to their hotel before turning and disappearing into the darkness of the pre-dawn hours.

* * *

Myka ran a hand through her damp locks as she sat down at the desk in her hotel room; she grabbed her Farnsworth and dialed Artie's frequency. As she waited for the old man to answer she though back to earlier in the night. Images of Helena and that vampire flashed through her mind and she bit back a disgusted snarl. She didn't like Luca one bit and it wasn't just because she was a vampire- an evil blood sucking monster- but because she wasn't (in Myka's opinion) good for Helena. Her English friend was working on redeeming herself for trying to end the world; she was trying to stay on the right path a path that didn't involve killing and being soulless. Myka just felt that there was no good that could come from anyone in Helena's past especially a vampire that clearly held a very dark past. Luca Osric screamed bad news, very bad news, to Myka and that meant the agent had to do something about her.

"What!" The gruff voice of Artie sounded from the Farnsworth causing Myka to snap out of her thoughts.

"Artie, its Myka. The artifact has been snagged and bagged. We've also caught another case." The female agent began filling her boss in on the Ring of Osric and their newest vampire partner.

* * *

A soft knock sounded from Helena's door causing the woman to look up from her journal in confusion. Carefully she closed the leather book and shoved it into her suitcase; she grabbed her Tesla from the nightstand and held it behind her back as she approached the door. She figured it couldn't be Peter because he'd stated he 'was crashing until the end of time' once they'd gotten to their respective rooms and Myka had said she was showering and heading to bed. Slowly she unlocked the door and opened it to reveal none other than Luthan Osric.

"Luc, what are you doing here?" She asked in confusion as she opened the door for the vampire to enter.

Luca swept past her and into the dim hotel room; quickly she shrugged off her leather jacket and draped it over the chair Helena has just been sitting in. "We need to talk," Luca began as she turned towards Helena. The English woman closed the door and leaned back against it, her gaze down trodden and avoiding Luca as she wrapped her arms tightly around her torso. "What happened, Helena? Why would you try and end the world?" The vampire asked painfully as she moved towards the other woman.

Helena pushed off the door and quickly avoided Luca's attempt to embrace her. "I don't know! Because I was alone. Because I lost everything I loved! Because I was so consumed with grief I just wanted an end!" She exclaimed her voice a mixture of anger and sadness as she ran a nervous hand through her silky hair. "I didn't know what to do, Luca."

"Why didn't you find me?" Luca asked excitedly as she studied her old lover. "We had a plan, Helena! We had it all figured out and none of it involved ending the world! Did you not stop to think about me? About us and our future?"

The English woman swallowed her tears as she shook her head. "I was lost, Luca I didn't know what to do I just wanted everything to stop!"

Luca shook her head angrily and began pacing the room. "You didn't even try and find me! You didn't follow through with the plan! You were supposed to find me, damnit Helena!" The vampire yelled loudly causing the other woman to flinch. "Do you have any idea what that would have done to me? If losing the woman I love wasn't going to kill me then I would have died of starvation!"

"Because I was told you were dead!" Helena yelled as she dropped heavily on to the end of the hotel bed. She dropped her face into her hands, tears burning her eyes and her body shaking as she fought back a sob. "They said you were dead and all I could think was that I'd be alone when I was unbronzed so I put my back up plan into place."

The vampire quickly moved in front of her and dropped to her knees; gently she reached out and took Helena's hands into her own. "What are you talking about, Hels?" Luca's eyes dancing back and forth as she took in Helena's broken expression. Anxiety and pain welled up in her non-beating vampire heart at the sight of her love's tears.

"The Regents told me you were dead just before they put me in the bronzer," Helena explained with a heavy sob as tears dropped down her cheeks.

A look of pure shock appeared on Luca's face for a brief moment before it was replaced with anger towards the regents. Gently she tugged Helena towards her and the woman all but threw herself into Luca's arms causing the vampire to fall back onto the floor with a thud. Helena clutched the other woman to her like her life depended on it as tears cascaded down her face. "Oh love," Luca breathed as she held the other woman close. "You know better than that. I would never have allowed the regents to kill me, especially with our plan in place."

"They told me that they'd sent a team to take you in to custody and you fought them which lead to your death." Helena said through her sobs. The memory assaulting her and causing her tears to come harder. "When we made our plans I made a backup plan of my own in case you didn't make it." She explained softly and she nuzzled into Luca's solid chest.

"Why, Helena! Why the world? What were you thinking?" Luca asked desperately as she held her old lover tighter.

Helena laughed harshly almost evilly causing Luca to cringe. "Because I wanted it to burn. I wanted the pain to stop. I saw the evil in this world, then and now, and I wanted it over. I never intended to follow through with our plan, darling." She said darkly as she pulled away to look up at Luca. The look in her eyes made Luca's already cold blood turn to ice in her veins and her chest to contract painfully. She'd never seen a look of complete darkness in Helena's eyes, not even after Christina's death, not even after they'd killed those men together. "I had a plan of my own and it was to be a glorious one."

TBC.


End file.
